Inking mechanisms for rotary printing presses



'H. J. LUEHRS March 8, 1960 INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed June 12. 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR w E N m T T A March 8, 1960 H. J. LUEHRS INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed June 12. 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 III DH H INVENTOR W ATTORNEYS March 8, 1960 H. J.'LUEHRS 2,927,533

INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed June 12, 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEYS March 8, 1960 H. J. LUEHRS INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 12. 1952 R O T N E V m ATTORNEYS March 8, 1960 INKING Filed June 12. 1952 .H. J. LUEHRS 2,927,533

MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR mym BY MM ATTORN EYS 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 H.J.LUEHRS INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES haw on b mu i: of

March 8, 1960 Filed June 12, 1952 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS March 8, 1960 H. J. LUEHRS 2,927,533

' INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed June 12, 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR.

March 8, 1960 H. J. LUEHRS 2,927,533

INKING MECHANISMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Filed June 12. 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 IN VEN TOR.

Y 641 {M W United ttes INKING MECHANHSMS FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESSES Hans .1. Luehrs, Westerly, R11, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Cottrell Company, Westeriy, 31., a corporation of Delaware Application June 12, 1952, Serial No. 293,045 6 Claims. (Cl. 101-365) ments in the drives for the ink distribution and the ink,

pumping mechanism.

My invention includes an ink distribution in which the distribution cylinder, which receives the ink from its ink pumping mechanism, will be rotated in a direction to cause its side toward the pumping mechanism to travel upwards irrespective of the direction of rotation of the plate cylinder.

My invention also includes an ink pumping mechanism in which the ink is supplied under pressure from a suitable source or sources to the one or more ink pressure supply chambers, in which chambers the ink will be maintained at a constant and uniform pressure.

My invention also includes various improvements in ink pumping mechanism shown, described and claimed in my copending application filed November 24, 1951, its Serial No. being 258,053 new Patent No. 2,672,812, March 23, 1954.

My invention also includes novel operative connections between the main drive and the ink distribution and between the ink distribution and the ink pumping mechanism.

My invention includes more particularly a variable speed connection between the main drive shaft and the ink distribution cylinder shaft and a free-Wheeling overrunning clutch between the distribution cylinder shaft and the drive for the ink pumping units; thus providing for the proper range of relative speeds between the ink distribution and the ink pumping mechanism.

My invention also includes means whereby each of the groups of ink pumping units may be removed independently of the other groups for facilitating the cleaning of the several elements of the ink pumping mechanism.

My invention also includes provision for oscillating the two ductor rollers either directly or indirectly between the distribution cylinder and the ink drum of the ink distribution, to permit the rotation of the plate cylinder in either direction, as required, without affecting the direction of rotation of the distribution cylinder.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 represents a detail front view, partly in section, of the work side of the inking mechanism; a

Fig. 2 represents a detail front view, partly in section, of the gear side of the inking mechanism;

Fig. 3 represents a detail plan view showing the variable speed drive between the main drive and the ink distribution cylinder shaft.

Fig. 4 represents a detail plan view showing the freewheeling overrunning clutch between the distribution tom cylinder and the drive shafts for anism;

Fig. 5 represents a detail vertical cross-section taken in the plane of the line VV of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, the ink pump valve being shown at the middle of its stroke with the valve plunger port located between, and shut off from, supply passage and the ink discharge passage;

Fig. 6 represents a similar view with port open to the ink pressure supply passage, and shut 01f from the ink discharge passage;

'Fig. 7 represents a similar view with the valve plunger port open to the ink discharge passage, and shut off from the ink pressure supply passage;

Fig. 8 represents, diagrammatically, one form of ink distribution, and

Fig. 9 represents, diagrammatically, ink distribution.

The ink distribution shown herein includes, an ink distribution cylinder for receiving the ink from the ink pumping mechanism. The ink roller for the distribution cylinder is denoted by 1. The upper and lower oscillating ductor rollers are denoted by 3 and 4. The ink drum is denoted by 5. The upper ink rollers 6 and 7 lead from the ink drum 5 to the upper plate cylinder inking rollers 8 and 9. The lower ink rollers 10 and 11 lead from the ink drum 5 to the lower plate cylinder inking rollers 12 and 13. The upper and lower inking rollers '14 and 15 contact the ink drum 5.

The plate cylinder 16 may be driven either clockwise or anti-clockwise from any suitable source of power.

When the plate cylinder 16 is driven anticlockwise, as shown in Fig. 8, the ductor rollers 3 and 4 are oscillated to alternately contact the distribution cylinder 1 and their respective ink rollers 14 and 15, which ink rollers in turn contact the ink drum 5. In this form, the ink drum 5 is also driven anti-clockwise.

When the plate cylinder 16 is driven clockwise, as shown in Fig. 9, the ductor rollers 3 and 4 are oscillated to alternately contact the distribution cylinder 1 and the ink drum 5 which, in this form, is also driven clockwise. In both of the forms shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the ink the ink pumping mechanother form of- -distribution cylinder 1 is driven clockwise, so that its side toward the ink pumping mechanism travels upward, thereby preventing excessive ink leakage downwardly be tween the distribution cylinder 1 and the ink rail 20.

The shaft A of the main drive for the inking mechanism is shown as connected through a variable speed drive B (as a P.I.V. drive) to the shaft 19 of the distribution cylinder 1. This drive may provide, for instance, a range of from 378.2 to 756.4 r.p.m.

I in coaction with the variable speed drive B and varyng at the same rate, the cross drive shaft C drives the interconnected drive shafts 25 (to be hereinafter described) ot the ink pumping mechanism through a freewheeling overrunning clutch D which cross shaft C is shown as geared at one end, as shown at 17, to the distribution cylinder shaft 19 and at its other end, as shown at 18, to the said clutch D. The speed reduction through this drive provides a range of from to rpm. which is equal to the same number of strokes per minute of the pumps of the ink pumping mechanism, to be immediately described.

This ink pumping mechanism is shown the following elements:

The ink rail 20 extends along the upwardly traveling side of the ink distribution cylinder 1. This ink rail 20 is shown as having a trough in its top surface, which trough is divided by separately removable partitions 21 into a plurality of ink pressure supply chambers 22 having individual inlets 23, through which the ink is supplied under as including the ink pressure the valve plunger pressure to the chambers 22 from a suitable source or sources 'of'inkpre's'sur'e" su plies; i A plurality of oil tanks 24 for lubricating the groups of pumping units are individually removable, which tanks are preferably of one page width. 'These oil tanksi24] are shown as mounted along the top of the ink railZt) in position to close the open tops of the ink pressuresupply chambers 22.v The inner walls: of these o-il tanks arefshownj as concave to conform tothe adjacent side of-the'ink. distributioncylinder 1. M

The ,alined short shafts 25 fond'riving' lthe group. of

ink pumping units are mounted in theie'ndwalls of the oiPtanks 24. These drive shafts'jZSf'are'"arrangedione, for each group of ink pumping units. These shafts 25" are also 'r'emovably connected 'at' their adjacent ends so,

as to permit .the shafts to be individually removed' with their respective oil tanks 24andt'heir respective groups of printing units, for facilitating the cleaning of jtheink pumping mechanism.

These interconnected alined drive shafts 25 are shown as being driven at the required speed from the ink distribution cylinder shaft 19 through the before-mentioned free-wheeling overrunning clutch D of any well known or approved construction.

As all the ink pumping units of the several .groups are similar in construction, arrangement and operation, one only of these ink pumping units will be specifically described herein.

Each ink pumping unit includes an eccentric 27which is secured on its short drive shaft 25 in the desired 'rotative position with respect to the eccentrics of the other purnlping units of the group within the tank 24, to avoid torque complications.

A strap 28 surrounds the eccentric 27, and the arm 29 of the strap is pivoted to the adjacent end of a horizontally disposed valve 30 slidable in its casing 31 fixed on the bottom of the oil tank 24. This slidevalvc 30 has a vertical cross port 32 therethrough forthe reception of a sliding plunger 33, which is pivoted'to the lower end of a swinging link 34. The upper end of this swinging link is pivoted to the short arm 35 of a rock lever pivoted at 36 within the oil tank 24. The long arm 37 of this rock lever is normally held by a spring 38 against the upper end of a thumb screw 39 threaded through the bottom of the oil tank 24. This thumb screw 39 may be turned to adjust the position of the long arm 37 0f therocklever with respect to the path of the eccentric strap 28, for varying the stroke of the plunger 33- v A short ink pressure supplied passage dilleadsupwards through the bottom of the oil tank 24 and the valve casing 31 to the lower side of the valve 30 in position to coincide withthe plunger port 32 when the slide valve 30 is moved to the limit of its inward movement.

An ink pressure discharge passage 41 leads downwardly from. the lower side of the valve 30 andthence laterally along .the bottom of the oil tank 24 to the upwardly traveling side of the ink distribution cylinder 1. The lowenend of this plunger port 32 coincides with the upper end of the discharge passage4-1 when the slide valve 3t). is moved to the limit of its outward movement.

The manually operated means for simultaneously silencing a selected group of ink pumping units comprises. the following elements: A rock shaft .2 is mounted in the ends of its oil tank 24. A plurality of arms .43 (two for each tank) are fixed on the rock shaft. 42inposition to be swung by a hand leve'rM- fixed ;.on the rock shaft 42 .outside the oiltank 24,. to cause the pins 45 on the arms 43 to engage and liftthe long lever arms37 out ofthe path of the eccentrics and to releasably hold these in such positions This upward movernent of the long lever arms 37 will cause the short lever arms 35 to depress the valve plungers 33 to a position which will substantially close the vertical plunger port 32. The hand lever 44 may be provided with a sliding latch 46 for engaging either of the recesses 47 in a quadrant 48 carried on the oil tank 24 to hold the hand lever in both of its positions.

In operation, the eccentrics 27 are rotatably adjusted around their shafts 25 so that a substantially continuous flow of ink will be pumped to the distribution cylinder 1. The throw of the valve plungers 33 may also be separately adjusted by the thumb screws 39 which engage the long arms 37 of the rock levers which reciprocate the plungers 33. This permits the ink to be supplied in regulable quantities to the distribution cylinder 1.

The rotation of the shafts 25 will cause the pump valves 30 to reciprocate to bring their plunger ports 32 into alternate communication with the ink pressure supply passages 43 and the ink pressure discharge passages 41. As the plunger ports32 open communication tothe ink pressure supply passages 40, the valve plungers 33 will be withdrawn to permit the plunger ports 32 to be filled with the ink under pressure from the ink pressure supply chambers 22. As the pump valves 30 slide into position to bring the plunger ports 32 into communication with the ink pressure discharge passages 41, the downward movement of the plungers 33 will force the ink through the said discharge passages 41 to the adjacent side of the ink distribution cylinder 1..

It will be noted that the eccentric straps 28 not. only reciprocate the pump slide valves 30, but also rock the lever arms 35' and 37 to reciprocate the plungers 33.

When it is desired to silence a group of the pumping units within their oil tank 24, the hand lever 44 is. swung to the position shown in dash-dot lines in Fig. 5; thereby causing the pins 4-5 mounted on the arms 43 of the rock shaft 42 to raise the long lever arms 37 out of the path of the eccentric straps 28.

It will be noted that when the supply of ink ;is cut off, the continued reciprocation of the valves 30 by the rotation of the eccentrics 27 will be suflicient .to cause the links '34 to slightly reciprocate the plungers 33 and and thereby prevent the sticking of the parts due to the hardening of the ink.

The subject matter shown and described but not claimed herein, covering the plate cylinder operable to rotate in either direction in combination with the ink distribution cylindencperable to rotate in one direction only, irre-.

spective of the direction of rotation of the plate cylinder, forms the subject matter or" my co-pending divisional ap: plication filed July 13, 1954, its Serial No. 442,960, new U.S. Patent No. 2,811,105.

It will be understood that various changes may be resorted to in the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, and hence it is not intended to.

der, a trough located along the top surface of the said; ink rail, which trough is divided by partitions into-aplurality of alined ink pressure chambers having individual ink pressure supply inlets, a plurality of alined oil tanks mounted on the top of the ink rail in position to close the open tops of said chambers, a plurality of alined separate groups of ink pumping units located within their respective oil tanks, passages leading from the ink pres-- sure ,supply chambers to their respective ink pumping units and ink discharge passages leading from the inkpumping units to the upwardly travelling side of the said t s s tiaui sr aser;

2. An inking mechanism according to claim 1 in which the trough dividing partitions are separately removable.

3. An inking mechanism according to claim 1, in which the groups of ink pumping units include interconnected alined short drive shafts.

4. An inking mechanism according to claim 1, in which the oil tanks are separately removable.

5. An inking mechanism according to claim 1, in which the groups of ink pumping units include interconnected alined short drive shafts which are removable with their respective oil tanks.

6. An inking mechanism according to claim 1, in which the groups of ink pumping units include interconnected alined short drive shafts, and in which the oil tanks are separately removable with their ink pumping units and interconnected alined short drive shafts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS White July 29, Pythian May 4, Schlotter Apr. 9, Yingling Sept. 9, Morris Feb. 10, Lamatsch Jan. 22, Coberly et al May 25, Ofeldt Oct. 4, Blackley et a1. June 6, Taylor Nov. 18, Luehrs Apr. 5, Stobb et a1. May 10, Bobard Aug; 15,

Huck Nov. 30, 

